Effects of outcome on the covariance between risk level and brain activity in adolescents with internet gaming disorder

Abstract

Individuals with internet gaming disorder (IGD) often have impaired risky decision-making abilities, and IGD-related functional changes have been observed during neuroimaging studies of decision-making tasks. However, it is still unclear how feedback (outcomes of decision-making) affects the subsequent risky decision-making in individuals with IGD. In this study, twenty-four adolescents with IGD and 24 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited and underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing the balloon analog risk task (BART) to evaluate the effects of prior outcomes on brain activity during subsequent risky decision-making in adolescents with IGD. The covariance between risk level and activation of the bilateral ventral medial prefrontal cortex, left inferior frontal cortex, right ventral striatum (VS), left hippocampus/parahippocampus, right inferior occipital gyrus/fusiform gyrus and right inferior temporal gyrus demonstrated interaction effects of group by outcome (P < 0.05, AlphaSim correction). The regions with interactive effects were defined as ROI, and ROI-based intergroup comparisons showed that the covariance between risk level and brain activation was significantly greater in adolescents with IGD compared with HCs after a negative outcome occurred (P < 0.05). Our results indicated that negative outcomes affected the covariance between risk level and activation of the brain regions related to value estimation (prefrontal cortex), anticipation of rewards (VS), and emotional-related learning (hippocampus/parahippocampus), which may be one of the underlying neural mechanisms of disadvantageous risky decision-making in adolescents with IGD.

Transforming brain signals related to value evaluation and self‐control into behavioral choices

“…Consistent with previous studies showing altered brain activity in the dlPFC in smokers and participants with Internet gaming disorder (Clewett et al, ; Wang et al, ), our results highlight the important role of dlPFC in addiction from the perspective of activity patterns. Our data also support the concept that, in terms of addictions, intact vmPFC function is important during value representation (Bedi, Lindquist, & Haney, ; Qi et al, ).…”

Neurobiological mechanisms underlying internet gaming disorder

“…59 IGD participants who performed on a delay-discounting task also showed stronger functional connectivity while selecting small and immediate gains. 60 This is further evidence for augmented sensitivity to reward and decreased impulse control in IGD. 60 IGD participants performing a decision-making task have shown lower changes in the DLPFC and inferior parietal lobule in response to risk exposure for potential losses and higher activity in response to reward in the OFC, ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and ventral striatum for potential gains during outcome processing.…”

A Tripartite Neurocognitive Model of Internet Gaming Disorder

“…Support for this view has been given in a study on the underlying neural mechanisms of disadvantageous risky decision-making in IGD cases. During the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART), a significant interaction effect between risk level and activation of the bilateral ventral medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) has been shown ( 87 ). Another study, which used a modified delay-discounting task, also suggested that IGD cases prefer the probabilistic or risky options; it also showed that there is a positive correlation between activation of inferior frontal gyrus and probability discounting rates ( 88 ).…”